Shiplap siding features boards with a rabbeted, or notched, edge design that allows adjacent boards to overlap and fit tightly together, creating a flush, interlocking joint rather than the more visible overlap characteristic of traditional lap siding.
This interlocking design creates a distinctively clean, tight appearance with minimal visible gap between boards, differing from the more pronounced shadow lines that other lap siding styles typically display.
While traditionally used as exterior siding, shiplap has also become extremely popular as an interior design element in recent years, particularly for accent walls, extending this profile’s appeal well beyond its original exterior weatherproofing application.
What Does Shiplap Siding Involve?
- Boards with a rabbeted edge on both sides
- Interlocking joints creating a tight, flush appearance
- Available in wood, fiber cement, and other materials
- Both horizontal exterior and increasingly popular interior applications
Why Is Shiplap Siding Important?
The clean, tight-fitting joint shiplap’s rabbeted edge design creates offers a distinctive aesthetic appeal that has driven the style’s popularity both as traditional exterior weatherproofing and, more recently, as a widely embraced interior design trend for accent walls and feature applications. This dual popularity across exterior and interior contexts reflects the profile’s genuinely versatile visual appeal.
For exterior applications specifically, proper installation with adequate attention to the interlocking joint’s water-shedding capability remains important, since the tight-fitting appearance shouldn’t come at the expense of the weatherproofing function this siding style still needs to provide. This dual application speaks to the profile’s genuinely versatile aesthetic appeal. This crossover popularity reflects genuine, broad appeal for the clean-lined profile.
Shiplap Siding vs. Dutch Lap Siding
Shiplap uses a rabbeted, interlocking joint creating a tight, flush appearance. Dutch lap uses a beveled edge creating a more pronounced decorative shadow line, both distinct profile styles within the broader lap siding category with different visual outcomes.